Automated Identification of Computing System Resources Based on Computing Resource DNA

1. A method for identifying computing system resources comprising: at least one computing device receiving a computing resource DNA associated with a computing resource of a computing system, wherein said computing resource DNA comprises a plurality of computing resource DNA elements, wherein each computing resource DNA element corresponds to at least one identifying characteristic of the computing resource; the at least one computing device ascertaining an existence of a set of at least one potential match for the received computing resource DNA from a set of at least one reference data; the at least one computing device, when the set of at least one potential match exists, calculating a confidence factor for the at least one potential match, wherein calculating the confidence factor further comprises: the at least one computing device assigning a confidence value to each computing resource DNA element of each potential match in the set of at least one potential match, wherein said confidence value is influenced by predefined weighting data; the at least one computing device determining variances in data values and temporal data for computing resource DNA elements present within both the received computing resource DNA and each potential match; and the at least one computing device increasing the confidence value of the computing resource DNA elements whose determined variances meet predetermined variance threshold values; the at least one computing device refining the set of at least one potential match based at least on the confidence factor; the at least one computing device determining an optimum match for the computing resource DNA from the set of at least one potential match; and the at least one computing device identifying the computing resource DNA as a representation of a computing resource associated with the optimum match.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: the at least one computing device recording a relationship between the computing resource associated with the received computing resource DNA and the computing resource associated with the optimum match; and the at least one computing device creating a composite computing resource DNA that encompasses data from both the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match, wherein said composite computing resource DNA replaces the optimum match within the set of at least one reference data, and wherein said composite computing resource DNA represents a universal definition of the computing resource corresponding to the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein creating the composite computing resource DNA further comprises: the at least one computing device identifying each computing resource DNA element of the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match as one of paired and unpaired, wherein a computing resource DNA element identified as paired is present within both the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match; the at least one computing device analyzing data values of each pair of computing resource DNA elements identified as paired for discrepancies; and the at least one computing device executing a resolution procedure for computing resource DNA elements identified as unpaired and for computing resource DNA elements identified as paired that have data value discrepancies.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the resolution procedure comprises at least one of an automated resolution algorithm and a request for resolution by a human user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein refining the set of at least one potential match further comprises: the at least one computing device comparing the confidence factor of each potential match against predefined values for an upper confidence factor limit and a lower confidence factor limit; the at least one computing device, when the result of said comparison indicates that the confidence factor of a potential match is below the lower confidence factor limit, automatically removing said potential match from the set of at least one potential match; and the at least one computing device, when the result of said comparison indicates that the confidence factor of the potential match is between the upper confidence factor limit and the lower confidence factor limit, requesting a manual resolution of said potential match.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: when the set of at least one potential match is non-existent, adding the computing resource DNA to the reference data, whereby new computing resources of the computing system are dynamically incorporated into the reference data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one identifying characteristics comprise at least one of a resource identifier, a Media Access Control (MAC) address, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a domain name, an operating system version, a session identifier, and a serial number.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ascertaining of the existence of the set of at least one potential match, the refining the set of at least one potential match, and the determining the optimal match for the computing resource DNA are heuristically performed.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the optimum match for the computing resource utilizes the calculated confidence factors, field intersection data, and weighting data to determine the optimum match.

10. A system for identifying computing system resources based on computing resource DNA comprising: a plurality of reference computing resource DNAs corresponding to a plurality of computing resources communicatively coupled within a computing system comprising hardware, wherein each reference computing resource DNA comprises a plurality of computing resource DNA elements, wherein the plurality of computing resource DNA elements correspond to identifying characteristics of a computing resource; an unidentified computing resource DNA describing a computing resource of the computing system with an unrecognized configuration of computing resource DNA elements; a confidence factor calculator, implemented in computer usable program code stored within and executed by hardware, configured to calculate a confidence factor for at least one reference computing resource DNA; a resource identification engine, implemented in computer usable program code stored within and executed by hardware, configured to utilize a heuristic algorithm to determine if the unrecognized configuration of computing resource DNA elements contained within the unidentified computing resource DNA is an alternate representation of a reference computing resource DNA within the plurality of reference computing resource DNAs, based at least on the confidence factor; and a data variance analyzer, implemented in computer usable program code stored within and executed by hardware, configured to assess variances in data values for at least one of computing resource DNA elements common to both the at least one reference computing resource DNA and the unidentified computing resource DNA and temporal data associated with each of the at least one reference computing resource DNA and the unidentified computing resource DNA, wherein variances in said data values alter a calculated confidence factor of the reference computing resource DNA.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the resource identification engine further comprises: a plurality of weighting data containing predefined user-specified values, wherein said predefined user-specified values quantitatively represent an importance of a reference computing resource DNA element; the confidence factor calculator, implemented in computer usable program code stored within and executed by hardware, configured to utilize the plurality of weighting data to calculate confidence factors for the at least one reference computing resource DNA, wherein the at least one reference computing resource DNA is identified as being a potential match for the unidentified computing resource DNA, wherein said confidence factor quantitatively represents a degree of similarity between the at least one reference computing resource DNA and the unidentified computing resource DNA; and a user interface configured to enable user-configuration of the resource identification engine.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the resource identification engine is a component of a computing device, wherein said computing device is configured to monitor communications of the computing system.

13. A computer program product that identifies computing system resources based on computing resource DNA comprising: a non-transitory computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising: computer usable program code configured to receive a computing resource DNA associated with a computing resource of a computing system, wherein said computing resource DNA comprises a plurality of computing resource DNA elements, wherein each computing resource DNA element corresponds to at least one identifying characteristic of the computing resource; computer usable program code configured to ascertain an existence of a set of at least one potential match for the received computing resource DNA from a set of at least one reference data; computer usable program code configured to calculate a confidence factor for the at least one potential match when the set of at least one potential match exists, wherein the confidence factor is calculated by: assigning a confidence value to each computing resource DNA element of each potential match in the set of at least one potential match, wherein said confidence value is influenced by predefined weighting data; determining variances in data values and temporal data for computing resource DNA elements present within both the received computing resource DNA and each potential match; and increasing the confidence value of the computing resource DNA elements whose determined variances meet predetermined variance threshold values; computer usable program code configured to refine the set of at least one potential match based at least on the confidence factor; computer usable program code configured to determine an optimum match for the computing resource DNA from the set of at least one potential match; and computer usable program code configured to identify the computing resource DNA as a representation of a computing resource associated with the optimum match.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising: computer usable program code configured to record a relationship between the computing resource associated with the received computing resource DNA and the computing resource associated with the optimum match; and computer usable program code configured to create a composite computing resource DNA that encompasses data from both the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match, wherein said composite computing resource DNA replaces the optimum match within the set of at least one reference data, and wherein said composite computing resource DNA represents a universal definition of the computing resource corresponding to the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein computer usable program code that creates the composite computing resource DNA further comprises: computer usable program code configured to identify each computing resource DNA element of the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match as one of paired and unpaired, wherein a computing resource DNA element identified as paired is present within both the received computing resource DNA and the optimum match; computer usable program code configured to analyze data values of each pair of computing resource DNA elements identified as paired for discrepancies; and computer usable program code configured to execute a resolution procedure for computing resource DNA elements identified as unpaired and for computing resource DNA elements identified as paired that have data value discrepancies.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 , further comprising: computer usable program code configured to add the computing resource DNA to the set of at least one reference data when the set of at least one potential match is non-existent, whereby new computing resources of the computing system are dynamically incorporated into the set of at least one reference data.